January 27, 2012

In the early afternoon hours of the 24th of January 2012, members of the "Alternative Intervention of Athens Lawyers" and the "Group of Lawyers for the Rights of Migrants and Refugees" gathered outside the Turkish Embassy in Athens, in order to protest against the continuing imprisonment of 39 Turkish and Kurdish human rights defenders, who were arrested in our neighboring country, simply because of their work as lawyers. Similar protests were organised by colleagues of ours in most European capitals within the framework of a pan-European day of solidarity towards our imprisoned colleagues in Turkey.

The Athens Bar Association expresses its strong protest against the illegal and arbitrary detention for questioning of lawyers, who protested outside the Turkish Embassy against the arrests of 39 Kurdish lawyers, human rights defenders, in the framework of a respective EU-wide day of protest.

The ABA will proceed to a relevant objection demarche to the Minister of Citizens’ Protection, the Minister of Justice and the General Police Directorate.